CHEONAN, South Korea, Jan. 19 (Yonhap) -- Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7, will open a master's course on the Korean independence movement history later this year, the Independence Hall of Korea (IHK) in Cheonan said Thursday.
"(The IHK) and visiting Marie-Orange Rive-Lasan, a professor of the Oriental Literature Department, have agreed on the opening of the provisionally named "History of Korean Independence Movement" course as part of the regular curriculum of the Korean studies in Paris 7 starting in the fall semester that begins in September," an IHK official said.
The two-credit course will be run as a joint class of Paris 7's Korean Studies and Oriental Literature Departments, and the Practical School of High Studies (EPHE), according to the official.
To that end, the two sides will hold a meeting early next month to discuss details on the opening, including the signing of an agreement between the IHK's Korean Independence Movement History Research Institute and Paris 7, and the collection and translation of basic historical records necessary for the course, the official said.
Launched in 1987, the IHK has been pushing for the opening of the course at the French school, the center of Korean studies in the European nation, on the occasion of its 30th anniversary this year as part of an effort to promote the country's independence campaign from the Japanese colonial rule (1910-45) worldwide.

Researchers at the Independence Hall of Korea's Korean Independence Movement History Research Institute in Cheonan, 92 kilometers south of Seoul, examine historical records in this undated Yonhap file photo. (Yonhap)

France implicitly assisted the establishment of the Korean exile government in Shanghai in 1919 as the Chinese city was then a French-leased territory, said Kim Do-hyong, a senior researcher at the institute.
"In particular, Paris 7 has been showing great interest in the Korean independence movement with various activities, including the opening of an international symposium on that subject last April," he said. "Paris 7 has made a meaningful decision this time again."